Georgia's Pick Up Truck Laws

Starting immediately, all pickup truck drivers in the State of Georgia will be required to wear safety belts while in their vehicles. Failure to do so will result in a ticket and fine from Georgia law enforcement.

Pick-Up The Habit! New Law Says “Buckle-Up in Your Truck!

TOUGHER SAFETY BELT LAW IN TIME TO SAVE LIVES THIS SUMMER
No More Warnings, No More Excuses. If You Don’t Click It, Expect a Ticket

Here’s a helpful hint for all Georgia drivers to write a reminder with their July Fourth party invites… It’s time to buckle-up in pickup trucks! By this July 4th weekend, everyone should know the news about the new state pickup truck safety belt law now in effect in Georgia. Simply stated, the new law says, if you’re in a truck, just buckle-up. Although traffic enforcement officers will be participating in the statewide Operation Zero Tolerance DUI crackdown campaign known as “Over the Limit, Under Arrest” during the July 4th holiday travel period, they’ll also be concentrating on writing tickets for all unbelted pickup truck drivers and passengers.

Why now? Well, the facts are clear. Nearly HALF the fatality passenger vehicle crashes in Georgia’s rural areas involve light pickup trucks! AND in those fatal crashes, 75-percent of the dead are unrestrained. Traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities cost Georgia more than $7.8 billion and result in more than 1,500 crash deaths every year. Nearly a hundred of these lives could be saved without spending another dime of your taxes if people in pickup trucks simply buckled-up at the same rate as folks in other passenger vehicles. Georgia’s new pickup truck law will effectively increase safety belt usage and help save lives here too.

What about farmers?

Under the provisions of this new law, there is zero impact to any agricultural roadway user. The new pickup truck belt law was written so that it included an exemption for every conceivable agricultural use in the state.

Does this law unfairly target rural communities?

In a word… NO. Buckling-up in your pickup truck is not an issue of urban-versus-rural or agriculture-versus-industry. It’s simply an issue of saving lives of some of our most productive citizens.

The rural road crash death rate in Georgia is TWICE that of urban areas! And it’s needlessly been that way for far too long. This is primarily due to the fact that pickup truck occupants fail to use their seatbelts at a rate nearly 15-percent less than drivers in other passenger vehicles.

But when worn correctly, seatbelts are PROVEN to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat light truck occupants by 60-percent and as much as 80-percent in the event of a rollover crash. Simply buckling your seatbelt can reduce medical and legal expenses, lost wages, lost productivity, high insurance rates and other burdensome crash costs that every other citizen is unfairly forced to share. While we know these monetary costs alone are staggering, the biggest beneficiaries of seatbelt use are the families and loved ones of pickup truck occupants who will not be killed or severely injured in a crash. And it’s all because of drivers who simply invested three seconds of their trip time to secure their safety belts.

Just remember that with this new law, THERE ARE NO MORE WARNINGS AND NO MORE EXCUSES! No matter what you drive or where you drive in Georgia, if you don’t click it, expect a ticket. For more information on Georgia’s new pickup truck safety belt law, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org. Contact your local law enforcement agency for information about seatbelt and DUI enforcement road checks, patrols and campaign activities in your community.